More than 1,900 people have applied to join the RwandAir Air Transport Company's program, which aims to train young Rwandan pilots.
These people are more than needed because this program aims to train only 20 Rwandan youth between the ages of 18 and 24, where it is planned that they will spend two years being trained.
The Cadet Pilot Program was announced on December 5, 2024, and had a 10-day application deadline.
RwandAir talent development manager Emmy Ndayambaje said that training one pilot costs $81,000 [over 110 million Frw], adding that the entire cost will be covered by RwandAir.
He said, "This amount [$81,000] covers all the necessary training until he is given a license to drive commercial civil airplanes [Commercial Pilot License - CPL]."
Since this program aims to train 20 pilots, the total cost will be $1.62 million [over 2.2 billion Frw].
Ndyambaje said that the selection of those who join this program will be based on the ability of the applicant whether he is a boy or a girl, and that the process of selecting them will be completed by the end of January 2025.
This training will be held at Akagera Aviation Academy, where it will consist of regular classroom lessons and others to learn to fly airplanes with the help of technology and dedicated machines [simulator training], during the training period to fly the airplane so that the trainees will receive the CPL permit, soft skills and leadership training.
According to RwandAir, the main objective of this program is "to make our company have good and Rwandan pilots," especially with the aim of increasing their number.
RwandAir statistics show that it currently has 207 pilots, including 13 women and 194 men. Among them, 59 are Rwandans, which is 28.5% of all pilots.
